Bloomberg obtained a list of federal retirees along with their annual benefits via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Keep in mind that federal retirees are paid thanks to taxpayers.

As per Bloomberg:

Irving K. Jordan Jr., former president of Gallaudet University in Washington, led the list at $375,900. Gallaudet gets about $120 million federal funding each year. Jordan didn’t return a request for comment left with the university president’s office.

To put this in perspective, Jordan gets more from annual benefits than USA GOP Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and former USA Vice President Dick Cheney. Pretty impressive to have a deaf man leading the highest-earning federal retiree list right there. Whether that’s a good thing is a matter of personal opinion.

While what he gets now in federal retiree benefits annually certainly is eyebrow-raising, and while it’s questionable whether it’s a reasonable benefit to be getting annually (especially at taxpayer expense), Jordan is definitely a self-made man and has worked hard to get where he is now.

In addition to his previously serving as President of Gallaudet University, he also served in the USA military prior to being deaf. So his previous military capacity in addition to the university presidency capacity significantly contributed to the calculation for retirement benefits. Updated due to recent contribution by commentator Observer – thanks!

One thing’s for sure, this article made me wonder whether I should consider a career change!

Source: GovExec.com

Related posts:

1. ViableVRS President Talks about Federal problems at Viable
2. ViableVRS Slammed by Federal Class Action Lawsuits
3. Martin Luther King

Yesterday, a conversation took place on Twitter between

The conversation drifted off to consulting, and mentoring, the difference of both before going back on topic. If you’d like to see the entire Twitter conversation between them, as well as others about deaf mentorship, check out a screenshot of it posted by Alicia. http://i52.twitgoo.com/1568ni9.jpg

Kelby mentioned something that was quite thought provoking: “Issue is prospective mentees need to learn how to seek out, find, and cultivate mentors”.

No such information was taught in high school, and so far in my studies for business administration at college, nor was it taught in college. So obviously, learning how to seek out, find, and cultivate was something that would have to be self taught. I needed a mentor in any case because I was planning on starting up a business, and wanted someone who went through successfully what I was about to go through to chat with.

First things first—Kelby had pointed out something critical: knowing the difference between a mentor and consultant was essential before even considering searching for a mentor. To that end, I decided to look up the formal definitions of both:

men·tor:
1. a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.
2. an influential senior sponsor or supporter.

con·sult·ant:
1. a person who gives professional or expert advice: a consultant on business methods.

Definitions from Dictionary.com

Ah, so then the critical difference is that mentorship is a personal relationship, whereas consultancy is a professional relationship. There’s certainly a fine line there that one should be wary and watch out for to ensure we don’t impose too much on those we ask to mentor us. While the line can blur in some areas, it is best to always to have expectations laid out from the start on the part of both the mentor and the mentee, so both have a clear concept of the boundaries.

Now we know what a mentor is, the next step rears its head. How to seek out and find a mentor. This is where most would toss up their hands and simply walk out the door. I mean, it’s not like I can just dial up Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, or Richard Branson and be like, “Golly gee, mind mentoring me?”. We obviously want to be successful. We obviously want someone who’s successful. But this is the crux of the matter: is it because leaders aren’t willing to mentor, or is it because of mentees not being willing to seek out mentors? At this point, I don’t know the answer to that. So I consider myself an experiment to answer that question. I definitely do want a mentor, and am willing to actively seek out one. Whether one will recognize my efforts and be willing, will answer the crux of the matter.

So then, how to seek out and find a mentor?

Those amongst you who know me well will know that I’m fond of hitting up Google for anything I don’t know or am not sure of the answer to. So hitting up Google brought up this excellent article at Forbes. I will tell you what the article suggested (suggestions are in bold) and will be discussing about them.

It asked first: What do I want in a mentor?

Good question, that. I wanted someone who can act as a general sounding board and big-picture guide. I wanted someone who has experience in starting up a business, and in being a CEO. That someone’d also have to be successful. Someone who’d be willing to let me try figuring out stuff, and raise a red flag when I was about to do (or was doing) something stupid. Someone who’d be willing to say “Hey Don, what you’re doing will work, but here’s a piece of advice that’ll save you a lot of hassle in the long run”. Someone who’d not only be a trusted counselor, but also a friend with whom I could meet up over coffee and could talk about this kind of stuff with. Well, meeting up for coffee would be a bonus. Heh.

The article then said I should check with my employer’s human resources department to see if they have a mentoring program. Seeing how I currently work for a certain company, and they generally take a dim view of my discussing the company outside the company, I won’t talk about how it went. At this point however, it was clear I’d have to explore other avenues.

This brought me to #3: Look outside the office. I already made it clear on Twitter I was seeking a mentor, and Kelby said he’d see about if there’d be a mentor interested. Waiting to see how that end pans out. This blog post is also a means to an end- it is my hopes a potential mentor will read this, and consider getting in touch. I also posted on Facebook to check amongst my own connections, and am waiting for a nibble there.

This then took me to #4: Do an advanced people search on Linked In. I thought this was quite a good suggestion: I have a LinkedIn account, but hadn’t really considered capitalizing on it as a resource for locating mentors. So I set the search to “Vice President of Marketing”, and then set it to search for those within 25 miles of my location. Nearly 6,000 results. Quite a lot of the accounts were anonymous. I decided to refine the results by focusing on those I had second-degree connections with. This narrowed down the results considerably to seven results. Of those seven, only one seemed promising. So I contacted the mutual connection to ask for an introduction; LinkedIn errored out on me repeatedly. So I sent the mutual connection a message asking if we could communicate via email, will try again to ask for introduction once contact via email is established. We’ll see how #4 pans out.

#5 of the article said to consider a younger mentor. Seeing how I’m 30, that’ll be difficult. Heh. But hey, am willing to consider it!

Out of all suggestions in the article, I found #6 to be the best: “Practice your ‘why me’ speech.” Obviously, I’d have to convince the mentor to even consider it. This will definitely take some thought. Why mentor me instead of others? Because of my drive, ambitions, loyalty, and potential? Because I’m deaf? One thing I know for sure is that I do want to establish a long and fruitful friendship in addition to the mentorship.

#7 of the article warns: “Steer clear of the formal request- avoid just saying ‘will you be my mentor?’”. Makes sense, most people do it for the personal satisfaction in seeing the other person become successful. If they did it for the money, then they’d be in consulting, wouldn’t they? Another food for thought: would you walk up to someone and just say “hey, will you be my friend?”. This direct approach wouldn’t usually work well. Best to establish a rapport prior to checking into getting mentorship.

#8 essentially reaffirms what I said earlier: show the mentor how to help. At the very worst, they’ll just say no. Never hurts to ask. But be mindful of overusing them—they’re not a consultant, they’re a friend. Treat them as such. #9 also says this should be fun for the both of you—you both should be enjoying the mentorship.

#10 was quite true—it said to ensure you do something for them also. Quid pro quo. While they do it for the personal satisfaction, they always like knowing their efforts are appreciated. Show some gratitude from time to time.

#11 also pointed out a very important point. Once you’ve gotten the mentorship you needed, and have attained your goals; pay it forward. Mentor others. That’s the whole point of mentorship. I definitely intend on doing this; I enjoy helping others to become successful in any case.

#12 (and the final suggestion) in the article was to practice active listening. Don’t just talk at the mentor, ask questions, and listen intently to the answers. They’re taking the time to provide guidance, don’t waste their time by only half-listening. Above all, avoid becoming defensive- they aren’t there to judge, they’re there to provide guidance and it’s entirely up to you whether to consider their advice, whether to take advantage of it or not.

So to that end, I’ve put out feelers searching for a mentor, and think I’ve got the gist of what a mentorship is all about. Or at least I hope so anyway. Maybe if I got a mentor on mentorship? Hah. Wait, that actually might be good. They’d warn me if I wasn’t handling the mentorship well, and being mentors for others, they’d be well positioned to do so. Hmmm.

Update: Alicia was also suggesting mentorship for leaders whose time budgets was a constraint that prevented them from serving on boards for deaf businesses, as mentorship is a less time-consuming option. She also suggested looking for incubators and CEO roundtables in my area.

No related posts.

It’s not even a small victory per se for Netflix—in fact, if anything, it’s a small defeat for Netflix. We amended it to remove the ADA aspect because of one primary reason: National Association of the Deaf (NAD). They currently have a lawsuit pending against Netflix using the ADA. By amending it to remove the ADA aspect, we strengthened NAD’s case and prevented Netflix from attempting to leverage our case against NAD’s case. Now NAD can concentrate on the ADA aspect, while my class action lawsuit will focus on other aspects. If you’d like more information on the NAD class action lawsuit, please inquiry with NAD.

In other words, my lawsuit is still ongoing, and I have absolutely no intentions of dropping the lawsuit. I intend to see it to the end until we reach a resolution, whether it’s in court or outside court via a settlement. The only difference at this juncture is that the ADA no longer has any bearing in the case.

My class action lawsuit is now focused on the following:

(1) Netflix’s falsely advertising the streaming library as being meaningfully captioned within a reasonable period of time,

(2) the “deaf tax,” and

(3) California state civil rights statutes (California Unruh Act and Disabled Persons Act).

That being said, there’s no further updates since the last update—it’s actually quite slow, what with waiting for both parties’ attorneys to submit the paperwork. I expect to have more news in December. Yes, it’s that slow! But it’s definitely progressing.

Just wanted to reassure you all that I haven’t given up at all. =)

Related posts:

1. Update on the Class Action Lawsuit VS Netflix
2. Deaf VS Netflix: Lawsuit Now in Progress!
3. Netflix screwing over customers–again.

Basically if you and many others felt that Netflix was doing something wrong, and you as well as the others tried to talk to Netflix only to have them politely brush you off – you and the others had the option to file a class action lawsuit.

Which is exactly what  I did in regards with Netflix, and which also is what exactly NAD did.

But thanks to something Netflix just did now, now nobody else can.

This is how: Netflix modified their TOU (Terms of Usage – something you have to agree to before you can use Netflix). One of the modifications basically says this:

These Terms of Use provide that all disputes between you and Netflix will be resolved by BINDING ARBITRATION. YOU AGREE TO GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO GO TO COURT to assert or defend your rights under this contract (except for matters that may be taken to small claims court). Your rights will be determined by a NEUTRAL ARBITRATOR and NOT a judge or jury and your claims cannot be brought as a class action.*

*Quote and emphasis added by Amy Cohen Efron, retained to keep clarity.

If you like reading legalese, feel free to read the TOU section that basically takes away your rights for a class action lawsuit. It’s interesting reading, actually.

If you’re wondering whether Netflix actually has the right to take away our rights to file a class action lawsuit – yes they can do that. Previously, they couldn’t. But a very recent setback that occurred a couple months ago changed everything. The Supreme Court ruled in a case (AT&T Mobility VS Concepcion) on the side of corporations – which essentially eliminated the right of class action (if waived as per agreement). Corporations that supported this weakening of class action lawsuits include the Chamber of Commerce, Comcast, Dell, and DirectTV. For what it’s worth mentioning, the ruling was very tight—5 justices were in support of the corporations, and 4 were against. For more information on that particular case, feel free to read this article by Jonathan Turley.

Oh, and if you’re wondering – does this affect the class action lawsuits filed by me, and by NAD – the answer is a very empathic NO! This does NOT affect the lawsuits already currently in progress, it only prevents new ones.

And yes, there’s a loophole in the agreement. The TOU only applies to customers of Netflix. Let’s say they do something else wrong – perhaps they decide to charge extra for the captioning. An organization such as NAD can then file a class action on the behalf of a class if determined appropriate because NAD technically isn’t a customer of Netflix per se (assuming they don’t subscribe to Netflix), and as thus isn’t bound to the TOU agreement. As long as organizations like NAD initiate it, not the actual customers, they potentially can sidestep this setback. So there’s always that option.

If you feel this is wrong, I very strongly advise you to contact your local Congressional Representatives/Senators and demand that they restore our rights to file class action lawsuits, and to remove corporations’ rights to waive them via agreements.

Thanks, Amy Cohen Efron, for the heads up about this latest development!

Related posts:

1. Cullen VS Netflix Lawsuit Update
2. Update on the Class Action Lawsuit VS Netflix
3. Deaf VS Netflix: Lawsuit Now in Progress!

For background information on my efforts in getting ASL recognized as a language on the census form, please read: http://www.doncullen.net/?p=698

To sum everything up, Census does NOT recognize ASL on the Census. If you fill in the ‘other’ language option on the Census and fill out the blank line with ‘ASL’, they do not count it as ASL; instead, they count it as English. For them, that is standard operating policy.

The email excerpt is below.

Hi Don,

I would be the contact person for all disability content related questions, concerns, etc. for the ACS and other Census surveys.

Currently, when individuals write ‘ASL’ in the language box, it is coded to be English.  As such, we don’t report a separate estimate for ASL users.  While we could try to get an ASL question on the survey, we would have to identify a federal requirement  or the need to collect this information.  Every question in the ACS has a statutory requirement for its collection. If one doesn’t currently exist, (and I believe one does not), we would have to have Congress pass a law requiring data collection about ASL use.  From what I’ve gathered from the ‘language’ subject matter experts, the current language question is directed at assessing the need to provide written government materials in other languages.

We could see about getting ASL into other surveys like the Survey of Income and Program Participation, which has a supplemental questionnaire on disability, or in the National Health Interview Survey.

The documented reasons for the Language question in the ACS (and any other ACS question) can be found at:
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/about_the_survey/questions_and_why_we_ask/.

The fact that "ASL" is coded as ‘English’ is done to serve the needs of the policymakers whose legislation requires the collection of this particular piece of data.  Were any of the agencies that need language data to require ‘ASL’ as a separate option, the Census Bureau would be responsive to those requirements.  It is typically not the place of the Census Bureau to unilaterally interpret how the statutory language should be translated into survey questions. We try to balance the needs of several agencies and stakeholder who use the data in a way that is operationally beneficial for as many groups as possible.

For the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) or National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), while [it may seem] an easier path towards getting the question on one of these surveys [as stated above], putting a question on any federal survey is not an easy task.  When another Federal agency requires a new type of data collected, there is an assessment about which survey is the appropriate tool for measuring the desired topic.  Then comes several rounds of testing in focus groups, content test surveys and other experiments.  In additional, the sponsoring agency is usually responsible for funding any supplemental questionnaires or special surveys.  For instance, the SIPP supplemental questionnaire on disability is sponsored by the Social Security Administration.

I’d be happy to discuss this further or answer any follow up questions you may have.

Best,
Matthew Brault

—————————————
Matthew Brault, Statistician
Health and Disability Statistics Branch
Social Economic and Housing Statistics Division
United States Census Bureau
matthew.w.brault@census.gov

For reference, here’s the link to the start of my efforts in getting ASL recognized as a language on the Census: http://www.doncullen.net/?p=698

As always, your feedback is welcome—keep it clean though!

Related posts:

1. The Fight to Get ASL Recognized on US Census
2. Are You Neutral?

As many of you already know, as soon as the lawsuit was filed, all of the people involved went silent. This is typical of any lawsuit to avoid anything stated being used against them in the lawsuit.

An unfortunate side effect of this is that the public is put into the dark in regards to the case. I appreciate all of your continued patience with this

I’ve been doing a bit of wrangling with the people involved to get some kind of word out to the public as to the progress of the case, and finally got begrudging consent for me to share some information.

Just to clarify, the update has to do with my class action lawsuit against Netflix. The update has nothing to do with the NAD class action lawsuit against Netflix. If you’d like an update on that particular case, you’d need to contact NAD. That being said, onto the update!

We filed a formal complaint on March 11, 2011. All cases in the Northern District of California are initially assigned to a magistrate. Both parties can either accept or decline the case. Netflix declined. So the case got reassigned to a district judge. We then proceeded to file an Amended Complaint on April 9 to add CLRA (Consumer Legal Remedies Act) damages. We had to wait 30 days after sending a CLRA notice prior to filing the Amended Complaint. Netflix then moved to dismiss the Complaint on June 28. That motion is still pending. We need to file an opposition to the motion, which is due by July 28th. Netflix then has the opportunity to respond. At that point, the court would hold a hearing before issuing a decision. Keep in mind, the court does not have a time limit – it can decide the motion immediately, or wait a very long time before issuing one if it wants. To clarify, the motion by Netflix to dismiss is still pending, and has yet to be overturned.

Since the lawsuit has some bearings in regards to the ADA, the court ordered both parties to meet for a settlement conference on July 11. This is normal; the meeting is required pursuant to Northern District of California General Order 56 in all ADA cases. This meant we’d have had to put case on hold while we met with Netflix. But fortunately, we were able to avoid having the case put on hold. We asked the court to be relieved from the general stay the GO56 meeting imposes on the whole case, and the court granted that. The meeting was completed on July 11.

As for what happened in the meeting- I finally got to meet my attorneys in person; Jack and Greg. Both took the effort to greet me in sign language, and even wished me a happy birthday (yes, July 11th was my birthday—my 30th in fact). It was a pleasure seeing them take the effort to do that. We met up with the interpreters that were arranged for the case. I was then introduced to the Netflix team.  I had originally expected a tense meeting where both parties growled at each other, and spoke endless legalese. Fortunately, both parties were quite warm, cordial and pleasant. It was quite easy to follow what was going on. Both parties explained their perspectives, and shared their thoughts.

For the curious, the judge overseeing the case is Judge Davila.

As always, feedback is welcome — keep it clean. 

Related posts:

1. Cullen VS Netflix Lawsuit Update
2. Deaf VS Netflix: Lawsuit Now in Progress!
3. ViableVRS Slammed by Federal Class Action Lawsuits

The petition is halfway to their goal by the way. They wanted 1,000 signatures. It’s already well past 500 and counting!

I read and write English fluently. But it really isn’t my primary language when conversing with others, when interacting with my doctor, the government, and so forth. I’m actually conversing in ASL. I identify with ASL as my primary language.

So why isn’t it an option? Granted, we could simply fill in the blank. But why is it that English, Spanish, Korean, and so forth are viable options, but ASL is simply a ‘fill in the blank line’ option?

Why should we care? While I could answer that, someone else who signed the petition said it best:

Jun 23, Tamara Wilcox, OH
My daughter, son-in-law and two of three children are deaf or hard of hearing. They belong to a community rich in linguistic heritage and culture. Please include the Deaf community in the 2020 Census short form and and in all future census. Data compiled by the Census Bureau can be instrumental in funding much needed services and research on how to make the lives of this community better. Remember – everyone counts!

The more I thought about it, the more I agreed ASL deserved equal recognition as the other primary languages.

So I signed the petition. I also had a contact who worked for the US Bureau of Census, whom is an old friend of mine who is also deaf. While she worked for the bureau, she didn’t work with the form itself, but she was in a position to be able to find out who the best person to contact in this regard was. So I sent her an email. She did some inquiries.

The good news: they’re checking into the possibility of adding it as an option. The bad news? They’re still *checking* into it—meaning it’s not guaranteed. But rest assured, they’re definitely checking into it.

The bureau also emailed the people who’re sponsoring the petition (P. Boyd, M.Ed, Census 2010 Outreach Coordinator, S. Dawson, Ph.D., Deaf Services Coordinator). Please keep in mind this is before I contacted them in regards to adding ASL as an option. They’re already checking into the possibility.

This is what they said:

Dear Mr./Ms. Boyd,

This email is in reference to your online petition at
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/the-deaf-and-hearing-community-are-excluded/

There is a reason why the disability question on the Census survey (namely,
why isn’t it on the form anymore).  American Community Survey (ACS) was
developed to take the place of the Decennial Census long form, so that we
would have continuous measurement as opposed to having to wait 10 years to
get data with fine geographic detail.  The census long form, as I
explained, was sent to one out of every 6 households.  The disability
question appeared on the long form in Census 2000, not the short form.
Copies of both the short form and the long form from Census 2000 are
available here:  http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/2000quest.html )

Further information about the ACS is available online:
ACS main page — http://www.census.gov/acs/www/
Links to previous ACS questionnaires —
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/questionnaire_archive/

Further information about the Census Bureau’s measurement of disability,
through various censuses and surveys, is available here:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/disability/disability.html

There is a "language" question (#14) on the ACS survey but it does not have
ASL as an option, the person completing the survey would have to check off
"yes" and write in the box.

In closing, have you talked with anyone at Census directly about updating
the ACS to include ASL as a language question?

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Thanks,

Randy Murbach
Reasonable Accommodations Coordinator
HRD – Disability and Diversity Program Office (DDPO)
U.S. Census Bureau

If you haven’t already signed the petition, sign it now. The more signatures it collects, the greater the chances of the census giving the deaf and ASL equal recognition deserved. I personally can tell you that the US Bureau of Census is definitely monitoring the petition and the ongoing situation. They’re definitely listening to you. They will also be reading the commentary on this blog post. As soon as I get an update on the status, I will let you all know.

As always, feedback is welcome—and keep it clean.

Related posts:

1. U.S. Bureau of Census Refuses to Recognize American Sign Language
2. Are You Neutral?

Kari wrote a passionate letter to the CEO of Netflix arguing that Netflix should at least acknowledge the deaf. For your reading pleasure, here’s the letter!

From: Kari Aicher
To: Reed Hastings
Sent: Thu, May 19, 2011 2:05:21 PM
Subject: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Market

Hello Mr. Hastings,

I hope this email finds you

As a hearing individual, who only recently has been introduced to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing culture by way of employment, I find myself in love with a culture of individuals who are passionate about life and among other things, equal access to life as you and I know it.

Please find it in your heart to acknowledge the Deaf and Hard of Hearing market in all your marketing efforts that refer to subtitles/captions.  I was disheartened when your marketing team released news of subtitles for iPhone and iPod without any mention of the individuals who will be your best customers. Sometimes business decisions are made from the heart! Start showing your love for a culture who will be your greatest FAN.   Life is about "One Love".

Please share my passion!

"Introducing Subtitles!  Now you can follow the action when watching foreign language content, or when listening when the audio is not possible, such as when working out, or in loud environment"

How about this:

Introducing Subtitles for our favorite customer base – the Deaf and Hard of Hearing market. And to all our customers, you can enjoy movies too when audio is not possible like when working out or in a loud environment.

Sincerely,

Kari Lee

Manager of the most amazing Deaf and HOH employees! I feel blessed every day of my life!

It was most gratifying to see her speaking out in support of the deaf community—many thanks from us in the deaf community, and a kudos for taking the brave step to speak up! Also thanks for allowing me to publish your letter! Here’s hoping you get a positive response from Reed Hastings!

As always, feedback/comments are welcome—keep it clean!

Related posts:

1. Deaf VS Netflix: Lawsuit Now in Progress!
2. Netflix Slammed by Deaf Protests
3. Cullen VS Netflix Lawsuit Update

I’ve been using Osfoora for quite a while, since I liked it the best out of the bunch.

Then came along the article from Engadget that changed everything. It raved about TweetBot.

TweetBot at the time of this post currently costs $1.99. I know most people would balk at that cost. But trust me when I tell you that you definitely won’t regret the price– the app is worth every cent. The company truly put their heart in designing and programming the app, it’s one of the highest quality I’ve ever seen.

I could tell you in so many words why TweetBot is simply awesome for staying on top of Twitter, but I’ll let the video SHOW you why this app is simply epic!

Want more info? Head on over to: http://tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/

Or if you’d rather just download it, go to the app store on your iOS device and search for TweetBot. Be warned, there’s two apps with the same name and same price– don’t download the first one listed. The real TweetBot app will have this picture as the icon:

Or you can just head on over to iTunes and download the app, then sync your iOS device. The link is here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id428851691?mt=8

Related posts:

1. iPhone or Sidekick 2008 wanted! Can take over contract!

Watching how the corporate twitter account was handled was quite… Questionable.

So in the interest of increasing quality of corporate social media everywhere, here’s three tips for those who get into social media positions.

1. Don’t change the company’s avatar to a picture of you. It’s not about you, it’s about the company.

2. Don’t change the name or description of the company in the social account to about you or your name. Once again, it’s not about you, it’s about the company.

3. Don’t announce you’re the one handling the account. The account should be faceless. When people look at the account, they should see the company, not an actual individual.

While the third tip is not absolutely mandatory, it’s a good rule to follow. This allows seamless transitions if the people handling the account change—makes for less confusion down the road. The first two tips are absolutely essential.

Additionally, it doesn’t hurt to also have your marketing department design the account so it looks professional. Plastering the company logo  as wallpaper with excessive whitespace anywhere in the page is simply not professional. Remember, you want your account to have maximum impact on viewers. It represents the corporation after all; you want the corporation to look its’ best.

As always, comments are welcome—but keep it clean.

Related posts:

1. Tips for using GMail with Google Chrome